Mine car axle retainer



Patented July 11, 1950 UNITED: STATES l PATENT corsica American .Car and;r Foundry' Company, NewA Yorky Nf., Y. a Vcorporation ofi New Jersey Application January?, 1947, Serial No. 720,017

. f Claims'.

1;` This invention relates to axle retainers ing'en-l eral and in particular to axle retainers for mine or other industrial cars of either the through or stub 'axle type;

vMine or'other industrial cars haveV the wheels and-axles mounted directly on theb'ody andv as' a result considerable vertical play must be -provided for' between the body and axle in order that derailments will not occur. Provision for vertical play necessarily resultsin rather heavy blows beingidelivered to the axle retaining means. In the past pins or bolts have generally been used to retain the: axle in place. These pins or bolts require a` separate element to hold them in place, such. asf a pin, nut or cotter. Since the mine cars"` are subject to excessive corrosive conditions these retainingelements frequently became rusted or firmly fastened to the pin or bolt,` with the result that the retainer had to be burned off by means of acetylene torch. Also, due to the hammer blow from the axle these pins or bolts became bent and could not be'removed' even if the cotter pins or nuts could be removed. It .is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide an axle retainer which can be quickly snapped onto or olf of the axle box.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a single piece axle retainer which tends to tighten under the hammer blows of the dropping axle.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a spring steel axle retainer highly resistant to corrosion which can be readily attached to or removed from the journal box.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view taken through a portion of a mine car immediately adjacent the wheel and axle assembly, and

Fig. 2 is an end view of the improved journal box and axle retainer.

Referring now to the drawings in detail it will be seen that the journal boxes J have been applied to the inner center sills `2 and outer sills 4, which sills form part of a car similar to that shown in Patent 2,131,491. As clearly shown in Fig. 1 the journal boxes rest on the ends of a stub axle A which in turn rests on bearings carried in wheel W. It is, of course, obvious that if a through axle is used then the journal boxes will be attached only to either the center sill 2 or the outer sill 4 dependent upon the type of car.

Each of the journal boxes are of substantially thesame designA andare formed with a verticalsill-attaching flange 6h and a substantial-ly horii-v zontal sill-attaching flange 3', these flanges being attached to the sills by any suitable fastening means such as rivets I0. The journal box flanges- 6'- and 8 are connected and mutually braced by bearing side pieces l2 which are connected to gether and bracedby outer face l` plate l4forme'd integrali-with the side pieces and with the outer edge of topfl flange 8; The sidefpieces, together withl thickened portions ofthe top flange, form a semi-spherical bearing portion I-Sadapted' to' rest`r uponV the axle Since the bearings (not shown) are in the wheels this portion of the box is not equipped with--bras-ses, but in cases where the wheels are notequipped wi'thbearings` the' boxes 'will'. be equipped with brasses bearing on the-axle'.w Generally speaking, the journal box may be considered asy of invertedv U form to'which are attached suita-ble flanges for attachment of the box tothe sills or other structure.

`'I-he side pieces l2' of' the journal b'oxesare cut out asf at I8 to.v provide recesses or pockets bonded on the bottom by a ledge or shoulder 20. Below the ledges 2l) the side pieces are tapered as at 22 and these tapered surfaces are adapted to have sliding engagement with the ends 24 of the retainer R. As shown, most clearly in Fig. 2, the retainer is formed with a central portion 26 and upwardly diverging side portions 28 which are spaced respectively from the axle and from the sloping portions 22 of the side pieces. The retainer R may be made of ordinary steel but preferably is made of a spring steel which has been given a light temperature. It will be seen that the retainer is of upwardly open U form with the legs of the U terminating in inwardly directed gripping edges or claws 24.

It will be seen that after the axle has been placed in the bearing it is only necessary to hook one end 24 of the retainer over the corresponding ledge 20 of the journal box side piece, after which a pressure delivered at a point, such as P, will cause the other end 24 to slide up along sloping surface 22 spreading the gripping edges of the retainer R until the moving edge 24 has passed above ledge 20. At this instant the edges spring toward each other firmly engaging over the ledges 20 and preventing accidental removal of the retainer. It will be seen that due to the special shape of the retainer with its gripping edges a hammer blow delivered by the axle to the central portion 26 of the retainer will tend to make the gripping edges move inwardly along the edges 20, thus more firmly holding the retainer tainer. This will spreadthe gripping edges ,and

at the same time exert 'a pressure causing the one gripping edge to slide downwardly out of engagement with its corresponding ledge 2li. .f

While the retainer has been described more or less in detail with specic reference to the drawings, it will be obvious that various modications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a mine car the combination of Aan axle,

a journal box resting on the axle and having spaced side pieces located on either side of said axle, ledges formed on said side pieces, and a clip passing below said axle and having ends turned inwardly toward each other and engaging said ledges to retain said axle inposition within the journal box, said clip being made of spring material urging said ends toward each other to resiliently grip said side pieces.

2. In a mine car the combination of an axle, a journal box resting on the axle and having spaced side pieces located on either side of said axle, ledges'iormed on the outer side of said side pieces and having top surfaces located substantially in the same horizontal plane as the axle axis, and a spring metal clip having inturned o resting on said axle, outwardly directed ledges formed on the sides of said journal box, and an ,f turned gripping ends adapted to engage over saidl ledges, and beveled surfaces formed on said journal box below said ledges whereby said retainer may be driven into its position of engagement with said ledges.

5. Ina inine car the combination of an axle, a downwardly directed U-shaped journal box resting on said axle, outwardly directed ledges formed on the sides of said journal box, an upwardly directed U-shaped retainer having inturned gripping endsgadapted to engage over said ledges,` and beveled surfaces formed on saidV journal box below said ledges whereby said re-V tainer may be driven into its position of engagement with said ledges, said retainer being made of springmetal whereby the same will snapintoA of the journal box.

position above the ledges f J. BOGARD.4

REFERENCES CITED rhe following references are of record in the' file of this patent:Y

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name` Date` 1,047,894 Lloyd Dec. 17, 1912` 1,457,384: Miller June 5, 1923' 1,640,180 Buckwalter Aug. 23, 193'?I FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 27,577 Great Britain Nov. 26,1910V 

